here to remember 16-year-old ian heflin, a cheerleader, a lacrosse player, killed in a cross on his way to school this morning. >> he always brightened everyone's day. >> reporter: and then for him to die this way. >> he didn't -- i couldn't -- he didn't deserve to die. >> reporter: a curve warning, a broken hubcap, some bouquets of flowers, markers at the site of this tragic crash, the scene, this curvy rural road. three teenagers in the car on their way to school. the orange lines and skid marks tell the story. police say the 1996 toyota went off the road here, into the grass, and that the driver overcorrected. now, look at the skid marks. you can see how the car went across the road into the

oncoming lane. then down into this ditch. and into that tree over there. the passenger in the front seat, killed on impact. the passenger in the back seat, seriously injured. medevacked to a hospital. the driver, they say he was unhurt. killed in the crash, ian heflin, seriously injured his 14-year-old sister. police say the 17-year-old driver, and both passengers, were all wearing seat belts. on twitter, many remembrances. you were so sweet to me. never take a life for granted. ian heflin, he was an amazing guy. he'll never be forgotten. rest in paradise, baby. i can't stop crying. this area, no stranger to this kind of sorrow.

last year three young women at liberty high school, killed in a violent crash here. live in fauquier county, pat collins, news4. four children and two adults went to the hospital after this school bus accident in rockville. a jeep grand cherokee collided with the bus at intersection of great falls road and maryland avenue this morning. that school bus was on the way to richie park elementary. they all had minor injuries. police are investigating the cause of the crash. well, it has been a sad monday here in washington. veterinarians down at the national zoo did find some abnormalities in that tiny panda cub. the 6-day-old cub died yesterday morning. darcy spencer is at the zoo tonight with more on what vets found. >> reporter: it's been a roller coaster of emotions at the zoo over the last week. first, the extreme joy, and the loss yesterday when the cub

died. they say it's critical to fd out why this cub died to make sure another loss doesn't happen in the future. national zoo officials say they believe the giant panda cub that died after just six days of life was a female and they're getting closer to figuring out why the tiny bear died sunday morning. >> we found free fluid in the abdomen. that's an unusual finding. the liver, by palpation, by touching, felt a little bit hard in places. and it also appeared abnormal. >> reporter: in fact, the zoo's lead veterinarian said the liver appeared to be most abnormal, but are waiting for further testing to determine the exact cause of death. they have ruled out the possibility that the mother, mei xiang, could have accidently harmed her baby. >> there were no external signs of trauma. which indicates there was not a crushing injury. >> reporter: here at the zoo the panda house is closed, as the zookeepers turn their attention to the health and well-being to

mei xiang. she let out an unusual honking noise sunday morning which they took as a sign of distress. an hour later, her cub was pronounced dead. >> we continue to mourn the loss of this cub. >> reporter: indications are from zoo authorities that mei xiang is mourning, too, cradling a toy. >> it's touching and reassuring to us that she's going through a process where she's figuring out that she lost the cub. >> reporter: mei xiang produced one other panda cub in 2005. he has since been relocated to china. zoo officials are not commenting on whether the panda couple will have a chance to breed here again or if they could be traded in for another pair. >> it's just so sad. you know, everyone was so happy. and i think it means a lot to everybody in the city, and also the country to be able to keep a panda here. >> reporter: certainly does. zoo officials expect to have a

full report on the cause of death in the next couple of weeks. reporting live from the national zoo, darcy spencer, news4. that uuber battle still between the taxi drivers between what many believe is better service. taxi drivers say it's not regulated like they are. that could change. >> the car service says it doesn't want or need regulation, but it likely will get some. >> the people are demanding quicker, better, cleaner, but most importantly reliable service. >> reporter: one council member has complained for years that cab drivers don't serve her northwest residential neighborhoods and other sections of the city. bowser said she likes uuber's call service and used it this past weekend.

>> for me, it's reliable. i can pay with a credit card and not have to worry about it. but it's not a choice for everybody. >> reporter: in a packed council hearing monday that included a first, a skype phone call with testimony from the official who oversees taxis in london -- >> and most important -- >> reporter: taxi drivers fought on fairness, and regulations and whether uber skims business and profits from taxi drivers. >> what we are asking now, that the d.c. government is to level the playing field for both taxis and the car service. >> reporter: uber bitterly complains council members wants to put the modern online system out of business to protect traditional taxis. but the transportation committee chairman said it's just about fairly regulating everyone. >> i'm quite convinced, by the way, that we're going to be able to work this out and these services of flourish in the

district of columbia. it's just figuring out how. >> the taxi commission is reviewing uber's operation, too, but it could be months before a any changes occur. now to the weather. enjoy it while it lasts. and don't get used to this sun, folks. >> we've got a lot of rain headed our way. let's get the latest from doug. >> we'll see rain move on later this week, late wednesday into thursday, maybe friday, maybe saturday. maybe sunday. 68 right now out there. plenty of sunshine. winds out of west at 10 miles per hour. a gorgeous afternoon. actually, the coolest day we have seen since late april. late april, talking about spring. we have moved into fall. temperature right now 70 in la platea. 68 in leesburg. as far as the rain is concerned, no rain from washington all the way back to cincinnati and st. louis. things are going to be dry for the next 24 hours. but then we're going to see our rain chances increase. let's slide up to western

montgomery county. and along the louisdale area. how about you folks for this evening. the rest of the evening. 63 degrees by 7:00. 54 by 11:00. waking up to a very cool 42 degrees. it's going to be quite chilly when you wake up in the morning. your complete forecast in just a minute. starting tonight, parts of annapolis will undergo mosquito spraying after evidence of west nile was found in the area. crews will be sprague in the east port area tonight and october 1st. the spraying will begin after dark and last into the early morning hours. county officials tell us residents in the areas should stay indoors during the spraying. it's a charge that's compared to pouring salt into a wound. maryland regulators are considering changing policy that allow power companies to charge for lost revenue during the first 24 hours of an outage. the money they said helps to pay

for immediate costs in restoring power. customers complained about the charge after the storm back in june that knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of customers. the public service commission says it will rule as soon as possible. still ahead, several students sickened at a d.c. school today. it appears a well-meaning teacher may have been the source of the problem. and police attempt to sort out what happened in the chaos leading up to a teenage girl being struck by a police car. she was one of the darlings of the olympics. now kerri

some scary moments at balloon high school, several students became ill. jackie bensen reports the cause

seems to be an unlikely one. >> reporter: just before 11:00 a.m., the clinic staff at balloon high school realized there was something wrong. a number of students began complaining of stomach pains, one had trouble breathing, three were taken to the hospital by ambulance. as each student was brought out, the firefighters would question them, what did you eat, what do you think is making your stomach hurt, and each student answered, apples. the students said they had eaten apples at the school. armed with this information, investigators were able to locate the rest of the apples. turns out they were brought to school by a teacher who did so every year. >> the story of a teacher every year during test time brings in apples from her home orchard back in pennsylvania, and she gives them out to the students. we're starting to think now maybe the students were just -- they were just allergic to apples, or whatever type of pesticides, whatever may have

been used on the apples. >> reporter: department of health officials also responded to the seen. the air quality was tested, and it came back normal. the teacher is said to be very upset at what occurred. in southeast washington, jackie bensen, news4. >> we're told there have been 24 students in the class, not clear if all of them ate the apples. coming up at 6:00, we'll have reaction from the parents. cool start to the week out there. how low are we going to go tonight, doug? >> not just cool, we're talking the coolest numbers we have seen since late april. the temperature out there right now 68 degrees. we saw a high temperature so far of 69. the humidity only 30%. very, very nice conditions. just take a look outsite ride now and you can see exactly what we're dealing with. just beautiful, beautiful conditions. plenty of sunshine. bright blue skies. winds out of west about 10 miles an hour. everybody into the 60s. except for culpepper and plaplatea. both coming in at 70 degrees.

everybody falling into the mid-60s for the most part, maybe upper 50s by 7:00, 8:00 tonight. it's going to be fairly cool here. no rain to talk about in our region. but as we widen out, this is what we'll start to see, at least some rain trying to move in over the next couple of days. but not now. cleveland, new york, norfolk, to cincinnati, no rain out there at all. you're saying, what are you talking about then? when are we going to need the umbrellas? it will be later on this week. a cold front moves across our region. high temperatures today, 69 in state college. only 60 today in pittsburgh. so you know that cooler air is making its way our way. it will be fairly chilly for tonight. plenty of sunshine for today. we'll see cool conditions early tomorrow morning, but then very nice conditions tomorrow afternoon. a little bit more in the way of cloud cover, though. i think we'll start off with sunshine tomorrow and move into cloud cover during the late afternoon. temperatures tomorrow into the mid-70s. a little warmer than we have been, or a little bit closer to

average. then on wednesday, here comes this frontal boundary. look at all the rain just to the north and west. i think most of the day on wednesday will be rather dry. i'm not expecting a lot of rain on wednesday. you can see what we're talking about. if you live north and west of washington, you have a better chance of seeing shower activity late in the day on wednesday. then this front kind of stalls across our region for the day on thursday. for the day on friday. and then an area of low pressure forms and we could see rain through parts of the weekend, too. so it's not going to be heavy rain all day long, but we could see a rather persistent cloud cover and persistent rain. enjoy this evening. temperatures 60 to 65 degrees. eat outside if you can. tomorrow morning, clear skies, another cool start. get the jackets ready for the kids. 40 degrees to about 52 as you make your way into the city. 40 in some of the coolest suburbs. i wouldn't be surprised to see a 38 or 39 out there in some of the bigger suburbs. sunny early tomorrow. and increasing clouds. beautiful weather tomorrow. 73 to 77 degrees.

so that's going to be a great day. wednesday's the day we see more cloud cover. we see at least a chance for some rain. i do think we'll get to around 83 degrees, though. so most of the day on wednesday should be dry. we get into a better chance of rain both thursday and into friday. possibly into the day on saturday, too. sunday, i've got dry right now, but then another area of rain possible on monday. enjoy the next couple of days, it looks like we'll have a good one tomorrow. pretty good on wednesday, with a chance of shower late in the day and better chance of showers on thursday, friday and saturday. looks like we're going to neat the umbrella. tomorrow morning, the jackets that you'll need. >> we're liking this cool stuff in the morning. >> put a sweatshirt on, yeah. when we come back for the third time this week, customs agents bust smugglers trying to sneak illegal drugs into northern virginia. i'm liz crenshaw. two recent fatal fires that could have been prevented. how electricity can kill. my story may just save your life coming up. coming up in sports, our

first edition of the cooley report. the former redskins tight end will be breaking down the game live with dan hellie. amtrak is going to break the

as we say, some mondays are better than others. but every monday we like to dissect the redskins game from the weekend. now we have some help from a guy who knows a thing or two about what it's like to be on the field. >> it's something new here on news4 at 5:00. it's called the cooley report. chris cooley is going to help dan sort this out. hi, guys. >> i don't think anybody knows this organization or this team better than chris cooley. played for them for eight years. and watching the games just like the rest of us. chris, what's the level of concern here after a game like that, at fedex field on sunday?

seven straight losses at home. a game this organization probably feels like they should have won. >> i think anytime you lose two games in a row you start to have a lot of concern as an organization. you start to look at all the finite details of what you're doing wrong, what we could do better, how do we fix this, instead of saying what's going right. with the schedule these guys have moving forward, losing two games, two tough games that are very close that you think maybe we could win, brings up quite a bit of concern. >> then you have this defense. and you have plays of 73, 48 and 59 yards. obviously if you can control the big plays or limit the big plays, you're going to give this offense a chance. the defense expected to be a top ten defense, is really performing at a top 30 level right now. >> i think that's a glaring issue. we preached this defense is the best defense in the league. we made the transition three years ago. we said this is going to be what takes us to the next level. we're going to have a great

defense. we had a hard time making tackles this week. we had a hard time passing out coverages. you give up the first play of the game. you give up a big play, moving down the field. over 200 yards in just big plays. that's unacceptable in the nfl. you have to be able to play man coverage, you have to be able to tackle, especially when you're trying to get a guy out like orakpo. it's just not something if you want to win games, can be allowed. >> is this defense better now though? >> i think they'll continue to make adjustments. i think they'll ctinue to grow as a unit. and that's what they're going to have to do. fortunately for them it's still early. fortunately there's a lot they can do to get better. and practicing against them all off-season and training camp, i do feel like they're a very, very good defense and have a lot of potential moving forward. >> you talked about robert griffin iii about the off-season and said what the kid had was just special. how he handled the offense, the

maturity. i've never seen anyone handle the media as well as he has, just coming out of college, in my whole career. from a player perspective, he's a playmaker, tough, the sixth rated passer in the nfl. the 15th leading rusher. but here's my question, he's taking an absolute beating. can he survive running 12, 13 times a game? >> i think you flinch every time a quarterback takes a hit. and i like what he said. i like what he said in his interview after the game. look, i'm going to bring it. i know i'm going to get hit, but i'm going to continue to bring it. i think you look at cam newton as someone as an example. he was young, he took a lot of hits. he made it through the season. i think robert's very tough. i think he's going to continue to take some of the hits, as much as you can take off of him the better, because at any point it could be the hit that puts him out of the game. you don't want to see it happen, but he's a tough guy and i think he's looking forward to probably having to take a little bit

more. >> that's the thing. it almost seems like their crutch offensively is to have to rely on his athletic ability and play-making ability. when things are going back, let's let rg-iii make it happen. >> what he does best is move around a little bit, get out of the pocket. for us to win games and for the redskins to continue to do well offensively, we're going to depend on robert griffin to make plays. >> if they can keep him upright. six sacks in the game. i would be worried about the left tackle spot. but they say it's just a bone bruise and listed day to day. >> i think it's extremely important to the offensive line. the depth was questionable coming into the year. guys are going to have to fill in throughout the year. this week we may have to be a little bit creative. use your tight end a little bit, use the running backs to chip. there's going to have to be something there if trent's not there. >> i'm watching the patriots game the other day.

winslow catches a pack. i'm thinking, this could have been cooley. what is your status now? what's keeping you busy? >> i talked to nbc and i get the dan hellie report. so i'm excited to do that. i've talked to some other teams. i've had some other options come up. nothing that i'm excited about, nothing that i want to do. i'm still happy to be here. this is where i live. we'll see what i do moving into the future. nothing's a real hurry for me. obviously what i would like most is to be back practicing at redskins park instead of talking to you right now. that's not what we're doing. we'll see how it goes. >> all right. chris cooley, going to be on again at 6:00. hopefully every monday from here on out, if he agrees to do so. we'll be talking to you again in a few minutes. >> double-teaming it. still ahead, police attempt to sort out what happened in the chaos that led up to a teenage girl being struck by a police car.

some virginians are already casting their ballots for the white house. what you need to know about absentee voting coming up. the actress that said she

a fast forward through the headlines. a high school athlete is remembered as a standout member of the student body. 16-year-old ian heflin was killed this morning in a car accident on the way to school. his 14-year-old sister seriously injured. police say they were riding in a car that ran off a rural road striking a tree. the 17-year-old driver not hurt. we're learning more tonight about what may have caused the panda cub at the national zoo to die yesterday. the zoo's lead veterinarian said the cub's liver appeared to be abnormal. but we'll wait on a full test result to determine a cause of death. the cub died yesterday morning. it was just six days old. the d.c. council is weighing

in on the battle between taxis and new uber private car service. taxi drivers are upset it takes business away while uber claims some council members want too much regulation. they said they're just trying to regulate everyone fairly. the teenage girl hit by a police cruiser friday night is improving now. it happened as police responded to a series of fights broke out after a football game at watkins mills high school. chris? >> reporter: good evening. her condition has been upgraded. but she is still suffering serious injuries. she remains in the intensive care unit here at suburban hospital, where she was transported after the accident friday night. montgomery county police responded to reports of fights in the neighborhood around watkins mill high school in gaithersburg after friday night's football game. 15-year-old jenai richards was

struck by a police car as she stepped out onto apple ridge road across from the school. >> she continues to improve. she was talking with her friends and family, she was alert, even out bed sitting up still improving. she's still in the intensive care unit monitoring the head trauma and broken bones. but she keeps getting better hour by hour. >> reporter: investigators say it was so chaotic, there may be no arrests. >> we believe there was fights, scuffles, pushing and shoving, that kind of thing. in fact, one person reported that he was attempting to break up one of these smaller fights within the bigger crowd. and then was struck from behind. he has no idea who did this. that puts us at a disadvantage. >> reporter: today things were back to normal at watkins mill high school. a county police officer directed traffic as usual, as the school let out. i asked if parents are concerned about safety here. >> i feel completely safe. this sa great school.

it's a safe environment. my daughter who's a junior in high school this year said this is the first time she's seen a fight on the campus. >> reporter: the school principal scott murphy showed me a poster mounted in the main hallway by some of the officers of the student government encouraging all students to sign wishing jenaya a speedy recovery. after school today, the principal came here to suburban hospital and delivered that giant get-well card to richards and her family. that's the latest from suburban hospital in bethesda, maryland. back to you. now to decision 2012. election day november 6th. some virginians are already starting to cast their ballot. julie carey takes a look at whether they expect 2012 voting to reach the record numbers seen four years ago. >> reporter: it's day two of in-person absentee voting in virginia. because of the change in the law, it's the earliest virginia

voters have ever been able to cast ballots in a presidential contest. some voters were taking full advantage. this woman will cast an early ballot for president obama. >> i think this election is critical for the direction of our country. and i'm a president obama supporter. i want my vote to count and make sure that it's here, and i'm a nurse, and don't know my schedule yet. >> reporter: this man will be poll watching on election today, moved to fairfax county two years ago and said it's swing state status that was the motivation. >> it was a battleground state. it's a very important election i think. that's why i wanted to be sure i got here. >> reporter: in-person voting is under way, election officials have also sent out their first big batch of requests for mail-in or e-mail absentee ballots. the requests so far are slightly below the historic levels of 2008. but because the process is starting earlier, most expect to

eventually come close to or match 2008 in absentee voting. >> i expect us to increase a little bit. we did just shy of 30,000 absentee voters in 2008. with -- and i expect we'll do just above that this year. >> reporter: fairfax county's registrar said absentee voting is growing in large part because campaigns are urging it. >> we expect there will be a lot of campaign activity pushing people to vote absentee vote from all the things we're reading and hearing. >> reporter: right now, the polling places that are open, are open during the weekdays. but come october, some will be open on saturdays as well. in fairfax county, julie carey, news4. absentee voting is also under way in d.c. and maryland. why virginia voters need to make sure they don't arrive to the election polls election day empty handed. stopping another shipment of illegal drugs from entering the

country. the bust was made saturday. police say a business courier traveling from el salvador was trying to smuggle six pounds of campaign in sugar and soup mix. drug dogs sniffed out the contraband. customs officials say it was the third drug seizure at dulles in a week's time. still ahead, a teenage boy was shut off from the outside world even from his own siblings for years. a credit card company is ordered to refund hundreds of millions of dollars to custome

discover card is ordered to refund more than 200 million to its card holders to settle charges that the company pressured its customers to buy costly add-on services, like payment production, and credit monitoring. federal regulators say discovery

employees enrolled customers in these programs without their consent, and led customers to believe these services were free. they'll also pay a $14 million fine. drug abuse is still a big problem for a lot of teenagers and adults in america. that's according to a new government survey. but some drug use is on the decline. the survey looked at data from 2011, comparing it to the year before. there was a drop in the number of people who said they abused prescription drugs. also down, people who admitted driving under the influence. using cocaine, and methamphetamines. but heroin use and binge drinking are both on the rise. and there was a rise in the number of people who say they are dependent on pain relievers. >> it's important to step back and take a look at the big picture. over the past 30 years, overall drug use in america has declined by about 30%. these results show that we're making steady progress.

but the 2011 data also paints a troubling picture in the rise of heroin use, a trend that warrants close monitoring and concerted action. >> marijuana was the most commonly used illicit drug and it appears to be on the rise. government releases the survey results in september in conjunction with national recovery month. in the spirit of education nation, nbc 4 and our parent company comcast stopped by cramer middle skee today. we handed out 300 backpacks. families with at least one child receiving free or reduced lunch are now eligible to get internet service at home for around $10 a month plus tax. they have the option to buy a computer for $150. one mom today said it makes all the difference to her family. >> thank you for investing in

low-income families, trying to help them better themselves. trying to help them reach out with technology, which is the up and coming thing. >> being able to have internet access at her house is going to come in handy with one child in college already, and another at balloon high school. nbc's education nation summit wraps up tomorrow. president obama and mitt romney will share their views on education. still to come, two deadly fires in prince george's county that have been -- that could have been avoided. the residents made a mistake that could be happening in your home right now. a musician meltdown. did you see it? it happened on stage this weekend.

two deadly fires in prince george's county in the past year have one thing in common, they could have been prevented. >> in both cases, electrical circuit was overloaded, something that could happen in your home, too. liz crenshaw is here with a warning about everyday power strips and extension cords. >> these cases are reminders of how easy it can be to overload a circuit. power strips and extension cords are pushed to the max every day,

pulling more power than they can safely handle. what do you have plugged in? this story may just save your life. >> the family was asleep. the father was able to get up. but by the time he was able to get up, the fire had already extended to the stairwell. and there were two younger folks upstairs that didn't make it out. >> reporter: the fire chief is describing last month's fatal house fire that killed two children in capitol heights, maryland. the fire was blamed on an overloaded extension cord and power strip. and just last november, a fire in maryland claimed three lives after this power strip was overloaded with electricity and caught fire. he said both fires could have been prevent. >> you know, electric can kill. they just expect it's going to work. if i keep plugging stuff in, it's going to keep working. that's just not the case. >> reporter: power strips and extension cords look like

convenient ways to plug in lots of things that need power, but just because you can fill up the outlets, depending on what you plug in, you could overload into danger. >> what people typically do is, they'll plug multiple big things into it, because they think, boy, five, six plugs here, that's a lot of power. it's no more power than the plug on the wall. >> reporter: appliances like space heaters, air conditioners, refrigerators and washers and dryers should never be plugged into a power strip or extension cords. they should only be used on a single-outlet circuit. if you plug them into an extension cord or power strip, they could overheat and smoke and start a fire. >> right now we have an air conditioner, a microwave and tell phone. there's room for more. in the wall that's essentially a power strip. it's just plugged into an outlet. but it's providing them six places to plug things in. in this case, one thing should be plugged in. >> reporter: smaller things like

lamps, cell phones, laptops pull less electricity and are safer to use with power strips and extension cords. but one more warning, not all power strips are made the same. >> these two power strips look very, very similar to each other. have the same kind of switch, have the same number of plugs. they even have a cord that looks similar. >> reporter: but in reality the one on the left is heavier and the cord does not bend as easily as the power strip on the right. it will handle power loads safely. and the one on the left has a ul listing, underwriters laboratory, that carries a certification in for products. the other has a label unknown to safety experts. >> you need to feel safe about your power strip. the way to feel safe about it, the number one way is to look for the ul listing. >> it's going to cost you more, a certified power strip with a surge protector even better. despite paying a few extra

dollars, it can be pricely to protecting your family. just don't fill it up with these big appliances. >> we see this big thing and think, wow, we can put a lot into it. >> big heavy appliance into the wall. forget the power strip all together. >> good to know. a check on our weather. rain coming in later this week. >> a little later this week, but out there right now, plenty of sunshine right now. we're going to continue to see the sunshine for the next hour or so, as the sun continues to go down, and those temperatures they're going to go down, too. 68 right now towards the airport. dew point at 35. very cool dew point, that tells you temperatures are going to fall fairly quickly throughout the rest of the evening hours. out there towards the west, 68 in leesburg, 67 in dulles, centerville coming in at 75 degrees. 65 in huntingtown. 69 in annapolis. and over the next few days, no rain here now, but over the next

few days that will be changing. no rain really anywhere. you see a few showers up to the great lakes. that is really about it. that's not going to be the case over the next couple of days. we're going to have a frontal boundary drift down across the region. that will give us a chance for shower activity, late wednesday, thursday, friday, saturday, and maybe even after that. but we'll get to that in a second. as far as temperatures this evening, look at the numbers by tomorrow morning. 40 in martinsburg. 52 in washington. 46 in gaithersburg. very cool numbers when you step out the door tomorrow morning. tomorrow afternoon, 73 in gaithersburg. 76 in washington. 75 in cambridge. out to the west coming in at 73 in leray. a mild day. we'll start off with sunshine. then we see the cloud cover move in. we'll see a chance of rain begin to increase during the day on wednesday, going out with a 30% chance of showers late with with a high of 83. then we get into thursday. good chance of rain, about 40%, 50% on thursday. probably even better on friday. and yes, that chance of rain

continues through the day on saturday. right now, trying to keep sunday dry. let's hope we can figure it out and keep one of the days of the weekend on the dry side. guys? >> all right. an olympian reveals she won the gold while pregnant. and a meltdown lands a rock star in rehab. and you may be able to get some free coffee this week as well. >> these are the stories that are trending today. hey, she was admired at the olympics for her well-toned abs. but on the "today" show this morning, kerri walsh jennings said she was five weeks pregnant when she won the gold in london. she and her husband are expecting their third child. she wants to go forth in rio, that's in 2016. green day's front man billie joe checked into rehab after an on-stage rant.

claiming the show had cut their set short. the band apologized today, adding that clear channel which organized the festival did not cut them off early. green day also canceled upcoming events ahead of launching their new album. coffee lovers, a chance to snag your free cup of joe. mcdonald's is celebrating coffee week. they'll hand out coupons for a free small premium roast. thursday morning, 7-eleven stores are giving away free cups of coffee between 7:00 and 11:00, go figure. this saturday, national coffee day, you can get a free cup of coffee at krispy kreme. a new move in court by an actress in the anti-islam movie that spawned protests around the world. cindy garcia said she was duped into appearing in the film and her life has been put at risk because of it. last week a state court judge said he would not enforce google

and youtube, or force them to take down the film, because of federal internet laws. garcia says she's now taking her case to a federal court over the movie. she was told it would be called "desert warrior. ". >> based on an adventure film in the desert 2,000 years ago. and during the time i was being filmed, in my part, there was nothing mentioned about muhammad. >> several other actors say they are going to court this week against the movie's producer. and anyone else who knew about the real story line of the movie. the producer is currently in hiding. after the break, a teenager kept as a prisoner in his own home. also ahead, the deplorable abuse police say he endured that left him looking years younger than he really is. coming up tonight at 6:00, iran's president with another threat against israel. the white house is calling it disgusting, offensive, and outrageous. amtrak is about to break the speed limit. and there's a new leader who

police in georgia are investigating what appears to be an extreme case of child cruelty. >> it all began after officers spotted an emaciated teenager in an l.a. bus station. they believe the boy's parents kept him locked up in seclusion for years. >> reporter: investigators searched this home, trying to figure o where and why paul and sheila kept their son locked in the dark. so much so, his skin has been described as translucent. neighbors are in shock. >> it's just disgusting to think of this happening under your nose. >> reporter: an investigator in

l.a. says his father forced him to assume a disciplinary position every day for eight hours, his fingers interlaced behind his head and his feet raised off the ground. >> i would more than happy to go to the grand jury with an indictment on 1,461 counts, but that's not realistic. >> reporter: a retired police officer hired to look for runaways at the bus station spotted him right away. >> he immediately said this kid stuck out because he appeared to be about 12. >> reporter: his two younger families are also in protective custody. the d.a. says they did look into some type of complaints surrounding the two girls, but closed it. comber has yet to see his sisters who say they knew he was in the home, but weren't allowed to see him. >> it's hard to imagine in this day and age, that somebody could be that cruel to a kid.

>> reporter: he said his father told him never to come back. but he did. and investigators say now that he is safe with a foster family, he is looking for justice. >> gotten him cleaned up, got him a hair cut. he's gotten good food. from what i understand, he's in good spirits and wants to help with the investigation. >> both the teen's stepfather and mother are being held now without bond. a student athlete killed on his way to school. heartbreaking setback for the breeding program at the national zoo. and we may be closer to knowing what happened to the baby panda. there are rising tensions in the middle east. but the latest assault is on president obama's foreign policy. a disappointing outcome for the redskins season opener. chris cooley joins us with an insider's take on what went wrong. we begin tonight with the death of a student in virginia. a death that's a tragedy for one family and a school